Hoisting apparatus for wrecking vessels.



N0. 710,472. Patented 00L 7, |902.

S. LAKE.

HOISTING APPARATUS FOR WBECKING VESSELS.

(Application filed June 11, 1900.)

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(No mmm' W ITN E5565- No. 7l0,472. Patantad Oct.- 7. I902.- S. LAKE.

HOI STINE APPARATUS FOR WBECKING VESSELS.

(Applicstion fllad mm- 11, 1900.

2 Sheets-Shut 2.

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WlTNEISEIEE- UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE.

SIMON LAKE, OF NElV YORK, N. Y.

HOlSTlNG APPARATUS FOR WRE CKING VESSELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 710,472, dated October 7, 1902.

Original application filed April 25,1900, Serial No. 1 1,203. Divided and this application filed June 11.1900. Serial To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIMON LAKE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hoisting Apparatus for \Vrecking Vessels, set forth and described in my original application, Serial No. 1 1,203, iiled April 25, 1900, of which this application is a division, of which improvements the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in hoisting apparatus for that class of boats designed and fitted for floating stranded vessels, recovering wreckage from submerged ships, and for performing such other operations as are commonly required in the manipulation of disabled or wrecked vessels and the recovery or transfer of their cargoes. Heretofore great difliculty has been experienced in operating hoisting apparatus upon this class of vessels in any but very smooth seas, as even a slight rolling of the vessel upon the waves causes such sudden and excessive strains thereupon as to sever the heaviest lines or otherwise injure the tackle, according to well-known principles under which a sudden upward pull upon a submerged object is resisted by substantially the weight of the entire column of water above the same. Thus an object presenting an upper surface of one square foot and so nearly buoyant as to be readily lifted at a moderate speed by an upward pull of one pound upon the hoistingline would in a depth of a hundred feet, for instance,oii'er a resistance to a sudden pull occasioned by the vessels rocking and the consequent sudden variation in inclination of the boom of substantiallyjthe weight of a column of water one foot square and one hundred feet high, or about six thousand four hundred pounds in addition to the normal resistance of one pound. For this reason it has been customary heretofore to await a smooth condition of the sea before attempting to recover wreckage or other submerged objects by the use of floating derricks, and it is more particularly the design of the present improvement to overcome this difliculty to such extent as to enable wrecking vessels to perform their normal functions in all ordinary weath- (No model.)

ers and under every ordinary condition of the water. This end is accomplished by the use of the apparatus shown and described herein as embodying the present improvement, which provides for the retention of asuitable reserve length of the hoisting-lineindependently of the means for operating the same,

but under such control as to enable it to yield only under excessive strains thereupon exceeding a predetermined and regulated maximum tension, and to take up the slack thus paid out upon the return of the hoisting apparatus to its normal or initial position.

In the drawings anncxed,Figu re 1 is an elevation of a wrecking-boat provided with the present improvement, the side of the boat being partially broken away to expose a portion of the contained apparatus. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same with the top of the deckhouse and certain parts of the hoisting apparatus removed to expose the parts below.

The vessel 1 has a deck 2, on which is located the deck-house 3, containing the hoisting-drums and motor 4 for operating them. The derrick is shown comprising a standard 5, carrying at its head a pulley-block (3, with guys 7 extending from the head to the deck on one side and having pivoted at its base upon the other side the swinging boom 8, carrying at its head a pulley-block 9 to receive the line 10 from the drum 11 of the duplex winch driven by the motor 4,said line passing around said pulley-blocks 6 and 9 and under the pulley 19 (which will be later referred to) for determining the elevation or inclination of the boom. Aline 13 from the drum 12, led under the guide-pulley 14 to the pulley-block 15, depending from the head of the boom 8, constitutes the direct hoisting-line for lifting the objects to be raised.

The hydraulic cylinder 16 is provided with a piston 17, the rod 18 of which is directed upwardly toward the head of the standard 5 and carries upon its upper end means, as the pulley 19, before mentioned, for engaging some point in the line 10 intermediate the hoisting means and the body to be lifted. The said cylinder 16 is connected by means of a pipe 20 with valve 21 to a water-chamber 22, having air chambers or spaces formed by a series of standing pipes 23 in free communication therewith at the bottom and having their closed upper ends connected together by means of the main and branch-pipes 24, the former beingprovided with an air-vent or relief-valve 25. For varying the volumes of Water and air in the chambers 22 and 23 the former is connected with an air-pump 26 and hydraulic pump 27 by means of pipes 28 and 29, respectively.

In the use of this hoisting apparatus the pulley 19, engaging a bight of the hoisting- ]ine, remains normally in its lower position, with its housing maintained in engagement with the stop-shoulder or detent herein shown as afforded by the upper end of the cylinder 16, until a pitch or other movement of the vessel exerts upon the line 10 an excessive strain over the predetermined maximum tension for which the device is set, when the pulley 19 is drawn upwardly, the piston connected therewith forcing a portion of the column of Water above the same in the cylinder through the pipe 20 into the Water-chamher and compressing to a greater or less degree the air contained in the tubes 23, which action permits the boom to yield vertically in compensation for such action of the vessel. It will be obvious that the extent of movement of the piston, and hence of its means of engagement with theline 10, Will depend upon the amount of air-space provided for the water-chamber 22, which maybe varied by means of the hydraulic pump 27, while the tension of the air-cushion and consequent resistance ofthe piston to the pull of the hoisting-line may be regulated by varying the amount of air confined in the air spaces or chambers above the Water-chamber by the use of the air-pump 26 and the air-outlet or relief-valve 25.

While the valve 21 is designed to be normally open to connect the hydraulic cylinder with the air-cushion device afiorded by the water-chamber 22 with its air spaces or chambers 23, it is obvious that such air-cushion device may be effectively disconnected therefrom by the mere closing of the valve 21 in the connecting-pipe 20, the hoisting apparatus being thereby converted into one of'ordinary character.

Although the present improvement is embodied in apparatus comprising a hydraulic cylinder Whose piston-rod carries a pulley entering and engaging a bight of the hoistingline, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the use of a hydraulic cylinder nor to a pulley sustained yieldingly and adapted to enter a bight of the hoistingline, as other forms of devices adapted to pay out additional lengths of line under prede termined maximum strains may be readily adapted to effect such result, and any other portion of the hoisting-line may be connected with such holding device for the purpose described without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It is further to be observed that the present improvement, while herein shown and described as embodied in hoisting apparatus comprising a derrick and winding-drums, is not limited to application to any particular form or arrangement of this class of apparatus nor to motor-driven apparatus of any character, as it is equally adapted to any type of hoisting or tugging apparatus required to exert a pull upon a line attached to an object not exceeding a predetermined maximum limit, the relation of which to the actuating means is variable and is governed by external means or those not under the control of the operator of the apparatus.

The derrick is shown in the accompanying drawings as composed of trussed members constituting the mast or standard and boom; but it is obviously immaterial what is the nature of such spars, as their specific form or construction constitutes no part of the present invention.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination with a floating vessel, of a hoisting-line, a sheave-pulley suspended from a mast or spar upon said vessel over which said hoisting-line is led, a yielding device operatively connected with said line, a stop-shoulder or detent for said yielding device, and means for yieldingly maintaining said device normallyin engagement with said stop-shoulder or detentin opposition to normal pulls upon said line but permitting the same to recede from said stop-shoulder or detent under a predetermined maximum pull upon said line.

2. The combination with a floating vessel, of a derrick, a winding-drum, a line attached to said Winding-dru m and leading to said derrick, and means independent of said drum and operatively connected with said line, the same being constructed and arranged to maintain its initial position under all ordinary strains upon said line, for yieldingly holding a fixed reserve length of said line but adapted to pay out the same under a predetermined maximum strain thereupon and to take up said reserve length under any lesser strain thereafter.

3. The combination with a floating vessel, of a derrick, a winding-drum, a line connected to said winding-drum and leading to said derrick, a pulley engaging a bight of said line and means for sustaining said pulley rigidly in its initial position against all normal strains upon the line but adapted to yield under abnormal strains thereupon.

l. The combination with a floating vessel, of a derrick composed of a mast or standard and a swinging boom, two independently-actuated Winding-drums, a line leading from one of said drums directly to the head of said boom, and adapted for direct connection with the load, a second line leading from the other of said drums to the head of said mast and thence to the head of the boom for controlling the elevation or inclination of the latter,

means operatively connected with one of said lines constructed and arranged to maintain its initial position under all ordinary strains upon said line but to yield under all abnormal strains thereupon for temporarily easing the same and to reassume its initial position upon the withdrawal of said abnormal strains.

5. The combination with a floating vessel, of a derrick and a Winding-drum, a line connected to said drum and operating in conjunction With said derrick, and a device attached to said line and adapted to normally maintain a fixed relation thereto but to yield undera predetermined maximum strain thereupon.

6. The combination with a floating vessel, of a winding-drum, a line connected thereto, a cylinder having a piston Whose rod is connected with said line, and means for supplying said cylinder With an elastic or yielding pressure medium.

'7. The combination with a floating vessel, of a Winding-drum, a line connected thereto, a hydraulic cylinder and its piston Whose rod is connected with said line, a closed air-chamber connected with said cylinder, and means for supplying Water to said cylinder.

8. The combination with a floating vessel, of a winding-drum, a line connected thereto, a hydraulic cylinder and its piston Whose rod is connected With said line, an air-chamber in communication with said cylinder, means for supplying water to said cylinder, and a valve intermediate said air-chamber and cylinder for closing communication between the same.

9. The combination with a floating vessel, of a Winding-drum, a line connected thereto, a hydraulic cylinder and its piston Whose rod is connected with said line, an air-chamber in communication with said cylinder and means for supplying it with air at the required pressure, and means for supplying water to said cylinder.

10. The combination With a floating vessel, of a Winding-drum, a line connectedthereto, a hydraulic cylinder and its piston Whose rod is connected with said line, a Water-chamber,

an air tube or tubes in communication with said water-chamber, a connection from said water-chamber to said hydraulic cylinder, a vent or relief-valve for said air tube or tubes, and means for supplying said air tube or tubes with air under pressure.

11. The combination with a floating vessel, of a winding-drum, a line connected thereto, a hydraulic cylinder and its piston Whose rod is connected With said line, a Water-chamber,

a series of air-tubes in communication with said Water-chamber and provided with a common relief-valve and compressed-air supply, means 3 for supplying Water to said Waterchamber, and a connection from said Waterchamber to the hydraulic cylinder.

12. The combination with a floating vessel, of a derrick composed of a standard and a swinging boom each provided at its outer end or head with a pulley-block, a Winch having two independent hoisting-drums mounted upon a common shaft and means for actuating said shaft, a hydraulic cylinder connected with a water-chamber having an air-cushion and the rod of Whose piston is directed toward the block at the head of said standard and carries a pulley, a line from one of said hoisting-drums led over said standard pulleyblock, around said piston-rod pulley and again over said standard pulley-block to the head of the boom, and a second line leading from the other hoisting-drum to the pulleyblock at the head of said boom.

Signed at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, this 8th day of June, 1900.

SIMON LAKE.

Witnesses:

JAs. W. GAULT, FRED H. PARSONS. 

